Enough to Burn
by Requ
Summary: Anna and Elsa attempt to bridge the lost years while juggling suitors and royal duties. Warnings: Elsanna, incest.


Summary: Anna and Elsa attempt to bridge the lost years while juggling suitors and royal duties. Warnings: Elsanna, incest.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

The damage was minimal after Arendelle's thaw. Elsa had braced herself for the worst, expecting accounts of devastated crops, ruined food stores and lost exports. But the report the royal council gave her detailed almost the exact opposite: crop yield was expected to fall within acceptable levels, the food stores were safe, and the only lost exports were some clothes and blankets that had been distributed during the freeze and a few lost ships.

Elsa could scarcely believe it. After all of that, on the very first day of her reign, where she froze the kingdom, holed up on top a mountain and nearly killed her sister—again.

There was no clean up. No repercussions. No punishment worthy for how profoundly she'd failed everyone. Even the citizens seemed to have forgiven her.

Anna forgave her.

It was so undeserved that it was surreal. She had to pinch herself a few times to make sure it wasn't a dream, and she'd open her eyes and find herself in her room having dozed off when she wasn't supposed to.

But life went on, a kingdom had to be run and Elsa had no choice but to go along with it, still wondering when the other shoe would drop and everybody would turn to her to say that there was a price to pay for losing control. Guilt was a familiar companion, but she bore it no easily than she had thirteen years ago.

The first sign came when she met the chancellor for their first meeting.

"Your rule is assured, your majesty," were his first words. It sounded like it was supposed to be encouraging.

"That is… good to hear," Elsa said after a long pause. She didn't know what to say, so she said nothing at all. Sometimes silence was best.

The chancellor gazed at her with a considering expression, then glanced down at the small pile of papers between them. They were in the king's former study. It was the same as Elsa had remembered it, at least since she'd been here last. Which was just before his death. She was painfully aware of how large the stately desk was, how small she still felt sitting behind it.

_I'm not ready for this,_ she'd said to her father, when he was alive. _What if I'm just not fit to rule?_

"This meeting was meant to inform you of Arendelle's domestic state of affairs, which was already detailed by the royal council's report you received earlier." He nodded to the papers stacked between them. "Normally, upon the ascension of a new monarch, I would also advise you on the state of Arendelle's foreign relations, as well as any other pressing matters the council or myself believe should be brought to your immediate attention. Given the… unusual circumstances of the past few weeks, I find that we may be meeting many more times in order to fully understand what may lie in store for the kingdom."

Elsa felt her heart beginning to pound. She clasped her hands in her lap, stiffened her posture, and faced the chancellor with a mask of impassiveness.

"I understand, chancellor." Her voice didn't quaver the way her heart was. "I have read the report and am ready to accept your recommendations to right the damage I've done."

The chancellor looked solemnly at her, searching her face for several seconds until he placed his hand on the papers he'd brought and pushed them to the side.

"I am glad, your majesty. Then I will start by saying again that your rule is now assured. Arendelle is safe."

She let the words sink in, turning it over in her mind. What could he mean? Was it not secure before? Did the freeze do more damage to her status than she'd been led to believe?

"I'm not sure I take your meaning," she said hesitantly.

"Then I will be frank. Arendelle has been, until now, without a ruler for three years. The king left no male heirs and you, the crown princess, were never seen publicly. During that time, Arendelle's future became uncertain, especially as there was no regent appointed. Your coronation was vital."

His tone was neutral, but she could hear the reproach. Her reclusion had hurt more than her sister.

"Arendelle is a major seaport," the chancellor continued, "and vulnerable to invasion without the support of her allies. You may know what I speak of."

She did. While she had kept herself away from Anna and the world, her father had made sure her education continued. He'd prepared her, as best he could, to be the next queen. She'd already assumed some duties, but had been forced to take on all of it after his death. A messenger began to regularly deliver documents that needed attention to the palace and Elsa sent necessary correspondence and work back to the royal council. She had avoided actually talking to anyone face to face by this method, but at least she knew the health of the kingdom inasmuch as what was included in the monthly reports that were left by her door.

"Weselton?" She asked softly.

"And the Southern Isles, at least."

Her jaw clenched. The floor beneath her feet iced over and the temperature in the room dropped noticeably enough to have the chancellor suppressing a shiver. The change was shockingly abrupt: one instant the picture of grave acceptance and the next… Well. Recognizing royal ire, the chancellor puffed out a frosted breath.

"They are no longer an issue, your majesty."

"How?" The queen's glare intensified, her tone turning brittle and hard.

As he considered his answer, the chancellor took stock of the woman before him. On the very rare occasions he'd laid eyes on her, he'd seen what he thought was a very shy and introverted girl: more suited on the arm of a prince than alone on the throne. The years of solitude, especially after the passing of the previous king, had only affirmed this assumption to not only himself, but probably to the entire kingdom, justified or not. But it wasn't a girl who glared at him across the desk, but a ruler ready to order an execution.

"Weselton tried to have me killed, chancellor. Prince Hans-" Elsa breathed sharply through flared nostrils, her jaw flexing again. "He _used_ my sister."

There was the unmistakable sound of breaking ice. Frost had spread from beneath the desk and crawled up the walls in pale jagged tendrils.

"The blizzard, your majesty." He looked meaningfully around the room. "The other diplomats also left in good spirits. Arendelle is, historically, not an aggressive nation and the peaceful relations we hold with our neighbors were not damaged."

She was losing her temper. She knew it in the way the chancellor was trying to placate her. _Control it._ She took a deep breath and aimed her gaze to a distant corner, her hands clenched tight. The ice slowly retreated, but the air remained as bitter as ever.

"My apologies, chancellor," Elsa said flatly. The anger might have been quelled, but it simmered there, just under the surface.

He inclined his head in acknowledgment and decided, wisely, to avoid any mentions of Weselton or Prince Hans, at least for the time being. Prince Hans's actions were more than enough to declare war, especially since his attempt on the queen's life had been before witnesses, and Weselton's attempt on the queen's life came a close second, even if it was through hired thugs that were now languishing in the palace dungeons. The chancellor suspected Princess Anna may have had a hand in preventing national aggression.

The chancellor was only half right about that.

* * *

Elsa actually did not found out the extent of Hans's manipulation until several days after his ship had sailed.

The fact that Kristoff was the one who'd told her probably made it worse.

"Elsa!" Anne turned to watch her sister enter the stables, stopping her brush in mid-stroke. She smiled up, her face open and radiating warmth that did nothing to stop Elsa's blazing charge. "Hey-"

"Is it true?" She demanded, her eyes narrowed into slits.

Her eyes widened and her smile faltered. The horses shifted uneasily in their stalls, breaths fogging in the air.

"Well?" Elsa snapped. She was agitated and the chilly aura and trailing ice was filling the stables with a distinctly malevolent air. Anna suspected if she didn't calm her sister down, the horses might kick down the doors to get away. Some in the neighboring stalls even shied into a far corner, ears laid flat.

"Ah, I don't know what you're talking about, Elsa," Anna smiled again, trying to lighten the mood. "Could you be just a little bit more specific? I mean, now that we're, you know, okay again, it's not like I can read your mind or-"

"That man you were set on marrying," Elsa bit out, looking more furious by the second. "Hans."

She flinched. "Listen, Elsa, I know, you were right about him and I feel really, really, bad about what happened when I sprung all that on you-"

Elsa cut her off with a frustrated noise. "No, not that. Kristoff said he intended to marry into the throne. Through you."

"Oh. Well, um." She'd mentioned it to Kristoff, but hadn't ever considered that Elsa might find out. It was still strange and new to think that she had a sister who could find out things. "I guess I didn't mention that. It, um, wasn't really important, you know? Since you were kicking him out anyway. Besides, that doesn't compare to what he did to you, he tried to kill you." The memory that brought up still chilled her to the bone and it wasn't from the ice that had formerly been in her heart. She'd never been so scared in her life before. Her knees still went a bit weak when she thought about it, the way the sword came down for Elsa's neck.

Ice crept up the stall side alarmingly fast. Anna's horse tossed his head with a frightened whinny and sidled away, bumping into her. "Elsa!" Anna exclaimed, grabbing her sister's forearm. "Okay, maybe we should talk outside. You're scaring the horses."

The courtyard was thankfully empty and Elsa no calmer than before. "I wouldn't have let him go if you'd told me. You should have said something, Anna." There was an undercurrent of hurt, as though Anna had been purposefully keeping it from her older sister. In a way, she had, but not for the reasons Elsa thought.

The younger woman sighed, rubbing her hand against her head. "And for what? It wouldn't have helped anything. I didn't want him in Arendelle any longer than you did. What could you have done? It was already over with, I knew he was just using me."

The queen's hands fisted at her sides as she drew up to her full height. "I"d have made him pay, Anna," she said quietly, but forcefully. "You're a princess. You deserve more, as my only sister, my only family. I will not allow anyone to ever disrespect you," Elsa's voice dropped, her already low register sounding deadly and her pale complexion flushing faintly with barely suppressed fury, "to use you like that, not ever again."

Shocked into silence, Anna gaped at her. "Um." She searched for the right things to say, but they were elusive and she'd never been good at saying what she needed to. Also, Elsa was kind of scaring her. Just a little. "Thank you, I guess. But you really don't have to-"

The look Elsa shot at Anna made her snap her mouth shut. "Not going to say anything now," Anna said meekly.

A grimace passed over her face and Elsa sighed, turning away. "I'm sorry," she said softly, still not looking at Anna. Her shoulders drooped and Anna hated how defeated she looked. "I didn't mean to-to shout at you. I just-I wish I could have, I don't know. I wish I could have helped you. Not that I would have been much help," she said ironically.

Her heart clenched with guilt. She remembered very clearly what she'd said to Elsa about love just a few weeks ago.

"Hey." She touched Elsa's sleeve and grasped her cool hands, making her look up. "It's all okay now. Everything worked out in the end, right? Everybody loves you, including me." Anna grinned and squeezed her sister's hands. "True love, happily ever after, what could be better?"

A pale eyebrow lifted. "Happily ever after? Is there another engagement I need to know about?"

"Another engagement? No, what are you talking-" Her meaning sank in. Elsa watched it spread over Anna's face, quick as wildfire, and had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing out loud. She kept her grip on Anna's hands when the younger woman attempted to jerk them back, probably to cover her chagrined expression.

"Elsa!" Anna hissed, tugging in vain. Elsa was stronger than she looked. "I said I wasn't going to, well, you know! I learned my lesson, all right?" And just like that, the tension broke and the air was easier to breathe. For both of them.

"Hm, I'm not so sure," Elsa demurred, enjoying Anna's embarrassment far too much. "You did say true love and happily ever after. I seem to remember those same, or similar, words before."

"You know that's not what I meant," Anna yipped, getting redder by the second. "Kristo-no! We're not, I mean, I don't think we are, wait, did Kristoff say something? What did he say? Gah, Elsa," she whined pitifully. "You're not even doing anything and you're making me say all this weird and embarrassing stuff!"

Another brow climbed up to join its twin.

"You're giving me that look. Yes, that one! It looks just like the one Mama used to give me and she'd know I'd snuck out when I wasn't supposed to," Anna babbled, belatedly realizing she wasn't helping her case, and shut up.

"Oh, really." Both brows were nearly to her hairline.

Shame-faced, Anna nodded.

Elsa smiled fondly at her sister. She was just like when she was young: vivacious, lively, spoke too fast to be proper, but so very cherished. Anna had a way of making her feel more at ease and that talent was invaluable when she had to meet with the people who wrote the reports slipped under her door. Interacting with strangers still unnerved her a bit, especially when they now looked at her with varying degrees of fear and awe.

Like magic, Anna drew her attention away just in time, before her thoughts could wander down dark roads.

"You should do something to relax." Elsa hadn't noticed it, but her hands had gone chilly and a frown had started to form. Whatever she was thinking about, Anna didn't want her to go there. "Wow, I don't know what you do to let off steam. Come on, tell me, we can do it together!" Anna was bouncing before her until Elsa realized she was rocking back and forth on her heels in anticipation.

"I'm sure my hobbies are boring next to yours," she said, thinking of the long hours buried in books trying to stave off mind-numbing boredom. "Tell me what you do."

"Riding! I mean, I couldn't go past the gates, but I like riding around the castle grounds, it's pretty relaxing. Oh, I know, let's go riding together! We can see what Arendelle looks like without all the snow, I mean, we have more than enough horses, let's go-"

"Hang on," Elsa laughed, already getting dragged back towards the stables. "I'm sorry to disappoint, but I don't know how to ride, Anna." She smiled ruefully in apology.

Anna drew up short and clapped an abashed hand over her eyes. "Oh, god, I'm so sorry! I forgot, I mean, you were in your room all the time and of course you never went out-well, okay, shutting up now. Wait, I thought you at least had a pony? I remember Papa teaching you."

"The last time I was on a horse-" she'd been riding with their father and their mother had Anna cradled in her arms, unconscious and cold and so impossibly small, to the trolls. "Was a long time ago," she finished, schooling her features into neutral lines, her hands clasping together unconsciously. She didn't want to think about that particular memory for too long. Things seemed to freeze more often when she thought of unhappy things.

"I could teach you! I mean, if you want to. Unless, you know, you have a phobia, or don't like heights, though doesn't make a lot of sense, you did make an ice castle on top of a mountain and, okay, um, how about it? Riding lessons?" Anna was painfully aware how she tended to babble when she was flustered or unsure and wished she could read her sister better. Elsa seemed to be inclined to long silences, which was understandable because she did spend years and years cooped up by herself, but it just made Anna nervous, like maybe she'd said the wrong thing. Horseback riding was fun, who didn't like it? And she had to admit, she was excited at the thought of seeing Arendelle's countryside now that the gates were open and what better way to do it than with her sister?

God, even her thoughts were babbling. She was just a jumble of nerves and cautious hope, it was a wonder she could function at all when Elsa was looking at her.

"Riding," Elsa started. Anna braced herself. "Sounds wonderful. But I'm a complete beginner-"

Anna launched herself at Elsa before she could even finish her sentence, squealing and hugging her tightly. "Ohmygosh, you said yes! I'm so glad, we can ride all over Arendelle and meet everybody, it's going to be so much fun!"

While Anna chattered happily, Elsa wrapped her arms around her waist. The motion still felt new and alien; she marveled at how Anna could touch her so easily, fearlessly. Her arms felt stilted and awkward, like a puppet with broken strings. Her sister was leaning her shorter frame rather heavily against her, but she was quickly getting accustomed to it. It felt… nice, almost, if Elsa weren't so preoccupied with trying not to freeze Anna's dress solid.

Anna said something, grabbed her sister's hand and started towing her back to the stables. She realized that when Anna meant riding lessons, she meant right this very instant.

"Anna, wait. Won't I need to change?"

Anna stopped short, eyed the shimmery blue dress and rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Oh, yeah. It's really pretty, but no good on a horse. Okay, first off, let's go get some pants!" She immediately turned on her heel and led the way to the castle, her hand never leaving Elsa's.

They found a few pairs of breeches in Anna's wardrobe, but none fit Elsa's longer legs.

"Maybe Gerda can get some that'll fit you?" Anna said as they both gazed at the mirror. Elsa was wearing an old white chemise of Anna's. It was normally kneelength on Anna, but mid-thigh on Elsa. The breeches looked almost painted on her legs, accenting the queen's shapely thighs and the top of her calves.

"Are they supposed to be longer?" Elsa asked, turning to and fro. "It feels well enough." She made a face, "I'm not sure how pants are supposed to feel. I don't think I've ever worn any before."

Anna was surprised. "Really? Oh, yeah, I guess we're supposed to wear riding habits, but I like the breeches better for riding." She smiled slightly. "Mama wouldn't let me when I got older. I had to dress more like a princess, she used to say."

The queen frowned down at her legs. "Then what are these? You've grown some since."

She grinned mischievously. "Guess."

"Anna, I really don't know-"

"Aww, c'mon, just guess!"

Elsa sighed, but played along. "Some poor stable boy's castoffs?"

"Nope."

"Stolen?"

"Elsa, I would never!" Anna exclaimed indignantly.

"You used to steal my dolls."

Another indignant gasp. "I did not! We shared them!"

"Yes, 'shared.' More like 'permanently relocated to your side of the room.'"

Anna giggled. "They looked better all together up on the shelf. But okay, I'll tell you. They used to be Mama's from when she was growing up."

Her eyebrows winged up in surprise and, to Anna's glee, interest. "She used to wear breeches? How did you find them?"

"Gerda found them," Anna said smugly. "And helped convince Mama to let me have them."

Elsa stared. "Really? These were Mother's?" Her mind reeled. Their mother had always been so proper and keen on both her daughters learning proper etiquette and manners, though Anna had always been remarkably resilient to her lessons. She looked down at the breeches in wonder. "I suppose I shouldn't feel bad about wearing them, then."

"See? It'll be perfect for riding lessons! Though…" Anna cleared her throat. They were too short, but Elsa managed to make them look almost sinful. Especially when she lifted up the back of Anna's chemise to examine her rear.

"You do look good in them," she concluded. Elsa certainly filled the seat. And everything else. She didn't know why she was only noticing that now or why she was noticing it at all in the first place. Maybe being frozen had addled her brain.

"Maybe too tight, though," Elsa said, walking around in an easy gait. "They feel so strange. I'm so used to dresses." The way the cotton hugged her legs so intimately was one she'd have to get used to. She wondered how Anna would look in breeches. Her mind drew up a blank. Apparently, she'd have to see it to believe it.

"Let's ask Gerda to find a longer pair?" Anna offered, peeling her eyes away. Her cheeks felt uncomfortably warm.

"Let's try these first," Elsa said. In truth, she didn't want to waste anymore time rummaging for the proper clothes to spend some time with her sister. The afternoon was a rare one where she wasn't occupied by some meeting or duty she had to attend to. "Will I need boots?"

Anna held up a pair of worn, but serviceable, black boots. Elsa slipped her feet into them, again amazed at the sudden freedom. They were tall enough that she could tuck the breeches into the tops, straightened and did a little theatric twirl. "What do you think?"

Her sister was smiling, though looking a little distracted. "You look amazing. I mean, good, that is, not that you don't look amazing, because you do, but you know, I meant that you're just wearing some old pants and you usually don't and wow, I need to shut up." Anna was fairly certain her face was heating up the entire room while Elsa just looked on bemusedly.

"Thank you," the queen said after a beat.

Anna's face burned even more fiercely. "You're welcome," she croaked in a strangled voice, then stared down at the rich aubusson rug between her feet. She started when cool hands enveloped her cheeks, turning her eyes away from the black boots next to her shoes, up to her sister's smiling face.

"Ah, Anna," Elsa murmured, quietly marveling at the amount of warmth her sister's face was emitting. "I do love you, you know."

Her younger sister groaned and tossed her head, trying to shake Elsa's hands off even though the words made her heart squeeze pleasantly, but the queen simply followed her. And truthfully, Elsa's hands did feel really good on her hot face. "You probably think I'm really weird. I am really weird, aren't I?" She amended. As though to prove her point, her face discovered another shade of crimson just as she realized how close Elsa was.

"I don't think you are. Besides, you're my sister and if you're weird, I'm much weirder."

A half- dozen retorts welled up at the tip of Anna's tongue, ready to be wielded, but she clamped her jaw shut. The expression on Elsa's face was tender, so tender, that Anna didn't want to dispel it.

She wanted Elsa to keep looking at her like that. She wanted Elsa to only look at her like that, like a shared secret.

There was a sound just beyond the threshold of the room, the unmistakable sound of footsteps and a hint of swishing skirts.

The pair parted just as a maid rounded the corner, bearing a small stack of blouses and riding jackets.

Anna seized the opportunity to rifle through the selections once they were alone again, holding up each one to Elsa's chest. Elsa accepted her opinions gracefully and gamely tried on most of the jackets. They-or Anna, really-settled on a deep navy one with black lapels and a snowy white blouse.

Anna surveyed her efforts and instantly regretted it.

The jacket made her startlingly blue eyes even more noticeable and the cut emphasized her slim waist and the gentle flare of hips. And the way her long thighs tapered down in too-tight breeches into those boots… Anna dragged her eyes up while Elsa was draping her braid over her shoulder, the tip of the plait settling over her breast.

Elsa looked too good in it, Anna thought in vain, her cheeks betraying her. She looked so handsome in men's clothes that Anna knew she'd draw stares in the courtyard.

"Well?" Elsa asked with a tentative smile. Was there a hint of nerves there?

"Really, really good," Anna answered honestly. "Like a prince," she added before she could stop herself.

Elsa laughed, the sound soft and silvery. Anna couldn't stop the very wide smile it brought to her face either.

"Let's go ride, then."

* * *

A/N: Mostly unedited, completely unbeta'd. Forgive the mistakes, they are all mine until I can find a beta reader to tolerate me.


End file.
